Logic
by FallAway
Summary: She feels cheated. Fleur, Cedric, Roger, and Cho. Oneshot.


-1Summary: She feels cheated. Fleur, Cedric, Roger, and Cho. Oneshot.

Disclaimer: JKR owns them. I just play with them.

A/N: For Amanda. First in a series of seven.

--

She feels cheated.

As he walks away, she furrows her brow and sticks out her bottom lip -- just the tiniest bit -- and tries to find some logic in her overwhelming disappointment. He is a nice boy, not beautiful by any means, but not horrifying to look at, either, and despite what everyone seems to think, she is not completely absorbed in appearances.

With a sigh, Fleur turns on her heel and sets out to find her friends, taking care to avoid the ardent gazes of the boys she passes in the corridors.

One boy, with particularly vibrant red hair and a penchant for squeaking rather loudly whenever she walks by, turns tail and runs in the opposite direction when she turns the corner to the Great Hall. She laughs to herself and picks her way through the crowd of hungry students to join her classmates at the Ravenclaw table.

A pretty girl with dark hair offers her a smile and asks her to pass the rolls. Fleur obliges her, gently passing the basket across the table. She frowns disdainfully at the smell emanating from the bread, though no one comments on her expression. She has been criticizing the food for months; it is impossible not to, when the standards are so low.

She is jostled when someone takes the seat next to her and she tenses, ready to attack the student who has so suddenly destroyed her personal space. Turning to face the intruder, she is caught off-guard to find one of her classmates from Beauxbatons. Madeline apologizes in French for being so clumsy and Fleur sighs.

"Fleur! I 'ear you 'ave a date to ze ball!" Madeline says, all bright eyes and cheeky grin. Fleur immediately glances around the area to see who else has heard and is met with a pair of stormy hazel eyes. Cedric Diggory is staring at her, and Fleur feels a small thrill in her veins at the look of jealousy on his face.

It is a familiar expression. She receives it from women much of the time.

Offering him a small smile, she turns back to Madeline and the two of them dissolve into conversation, speaking in rapid French and ignoring everyone else. When Fleur finally manages to stop laughing at the most recent horror stories of the day, the table is nearly empty.

A glance at the Hufflepuff table confirms that Cedric, too, has left. The disappointment sets in again, heavy as syrup, and she lets her hair fall to hide her face as she makes the trek back to the carriage.

--

Three days later, she decides that she is more than happy to be attending the ball with Roger Davies. He speaks her native tongue, though he is decidedly clumsy in his attempts to hold a steady conversation with her, and she finds his effort intriguing.

Even with the flirting she has so willingly partaken in over the course of the past week, however, she still feels like something is missing. Despite her decision to give Roger a chance, or maybe even because of it, she still finds herself glancing at the Hufflepuff table during every meal.

Fleur is unsurprised to find Cedric staring at her one more than one occasion, though the electric jolt in her blood is still new and somewhat frightening. On the third night, he never comes to dinner, and her disappointment returns with a vengeance.

"Fleur! _Fleur!_"

She starts and looks at Madeline, whose brow is furrowed in concern. "Ça va?"

"Ça va," she replies softly. "Je n'ai pas faim. Je vous verrai plus tard?"

"Oui," Madeline agrees. Fleur stands to leave and holds her head high as she passes the still-full tables, barely glancing at anyone. Roger offers her a wave from the end of the Ravenclaw table, which she returns with very little enthusiasm.

His frown leaves her mind just as soon as she is in the entrance hall. The pretty, raven-haired girl who so kindly asked Fleur to pass the rolls the other night at dinner is standing by the stairs, holding hands with Cedric Diggory.

The two of them are speaking quietly to each other; she blushes occasionally and he keeps his voice low, ducking his head slightly. Fleur stops dead in her tracks, unable to tear her eyes away from the scene. She thinks this might be how men feel when she walks into a room, only she cannot find any pleasurable feelings in the myriad of emotions flowing through her body.

Cedric kisses the girl gently on the forehead and turns, catching Fleur's eye. She quickly averts her gaze and heads toward the entrance of the castle, her steps light and clipped.

She feels cheated.

And the disappointment holds no logic at all.


End file.
